Executive summary
At about 0400 on Monday 5 May 2003, while steaming towards fishing grounds to the west of Fiji, the fishing vessel "Solander Kariqa" suffered a fire in the domestic refrigeration space resulting from maintenance involving oxy-acetylene cutting. The crew fought and contained the fire, which was not totally extinguished until about 2000 that evening. There were no injuries to the crew, but had they been unable to extinguish the fire with the limited fire fighting equipment available the vessel may have been lost with resulting injuries or fatalities.
Safety issues identified were:
· insufficient fire fighting equipment
· poor management of the fire fighting effort
· no procedures for "hot work" on the vessel
· nsufficient properly certified crew.
Recommendations were made to and the Director of Maritime Safety and the Chief Executive Officer of Solander Fisheries to address these issues
Related Recommendations
Draft an amendment to Maritime Rules Part 42B.66 for the Minister’s consideration, to provide that a self-contained breathing apparatus as prescribed in Part 42B.59 is included as part of a fire crew outfit. Where 2 or more fire outfits are required, one of the self-contained breathing apparatus may be substituted by a smoke helmet as prescribed in Part 42B.58.
In conjunction with the Maritime Safety Authority, determine and put in place measures to ensure that the company vessels comply fully with the provisions of Maritime Rules Part 31C).
Correspond with all Safe Ship Management companies and operators of New Zealand registered unlimited area ships advising them of this accident and the need to ensure all applicable vessels operating overseas maintain a current Non-SOLAS certificate.
Communicate with the operator of Solander Fisheries and operators of other New Zealand registered unlimited area ships advising them of this accident and the need to ensure that these operators crew their vessels with suitably qualified crew in accordance with the requirements of the Maritime Rules.
In conjunction with the Safe Ship Management Company. prepare procedures covering maintenance on board company vessels with particular regard to hot work involving the use of welding or cutting equipment.
As and when Maritime Rules Part 21 [Safe Ship Management] or Part 46 [Maintenance and Surveys] is reviewed, any amendments should include the provision that New Zealand registered ships operating outside New Zealand territorial waters maintain continuous certification.